The Death of Britain?

After more than a decade, has Brit Bank finally gone belly-up as the number one place to stand around and do nothing?

Luna and New Haven seem to be thriving (at least on atlantic), with a little more attention to delucia than in days passed, but it seems that the invasion content has effectively slayed Britain! Today was the first time in ages that i succeeded in recalling to britain, unblocked by mysterious invasion forces, and no one was there! not a soul! I dont think i've EVER been to britain and been the only person there!

No complaints, just astonishment! It appears, fellow britannians, that our country has evolved and new cities are fashionable. So farewell, brit bank, I'll see you in a future urban renewal!

Stratics Veteran

Unfortunately, this seems to be the case... History repeats itself, this happened in earlier days with East Brit Bank, Moonglow, etc. as being 'Hot Spots' at one time. Now it seems though Luna has grown to be that spot.

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Britain was blocked from recalling for a week straight. Before that was the Halloween stuff discouraging people from hanging around. Once things are working again, Atlantic will go back to Britain like we always have.

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It is a shame the towns aren't flooded with people like in the old days

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But what is there to do to encourage people to hang around a town? Many of us prefer a message board or IM for chat rather than in-game talking and aside from BODs an invasions, there are hardly any systems that are town-based.

I'm fully expecting that Luna will become part of the current "invasion" somewhere along the line. Will be terribly disappointed if it isn't! After all I hear about how diabolical Draconi is - I can't see how he could EVER resist!

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Lots of fun stuff to do, too many things to catch up on after each event.
Re-stocking vendors restocking my characters fixing their armor, bods to fill that have been put on hold.. With some changes coming on stealing I have been working on my thief, the list goes on and on.

Britain was blocked from recalling for a week straight. Before that was the Halloween stuff discouraging people from hanging around. Once things are working again, Atlantic will go back to Britain like we always have.

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i don't get why they pick Britain for all these invasions and crap? there's plenty of other towns that are already deserted. why not leave Brit alone?

i understand this one is tied to factions, but the others weren't. i remember the stupid one with the Power/Mystic weapons also shut down Britain for no reason.

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I haven't a clue why it has not yet dawned on the devs that the town takeovers and blocked recalling has done nothing but completely and effectively murdered town communities outside of Luna.

This was completely evident when I left UO six years ago and everyone had been driven out of their hometown by some week or two week invasion period or another. Britain was sort of the fallback city everyone would go. I was rather shocked to learn that they've still woven regular town attacks into the whole lore and ongoing plot since I left.... it brought a lot of bad and very little to nothing good to the game, as far as I can measure.

And OP... you are lucky if you would call Luna and New Haven "thriving." I feel bad for people on shards even further down in the "in order of number of players logged in" list than my shard, Napa Valley, because mine is pretty darn deserted a big majority of the time. Since I've been back I pretty much have to camp out at Britain to see anyone. You will perhaps see one person per hour in New Haven. And at any given time there are perhaps 6-8 people sitting idle in Luna. That's it.

Unfortunately I believe housing is a big part of it too -- why do you need to go into town when you have more storage, tools for every profession, and all of your belongings at your fingertips in one place? I have to imagine there are more players out there than the dozen or so I will run into in any of the towns in a given play day (even on a weekend) but I imagine they're sitting in huge empty keeps idling the hours away making trades for rares on the forums or in ICQ. Queue the sounds of crickets chirping throughout all of Britannia, and hearing the pins drop.

It's gotten a bit worse than "so long, Britain." It's more like "so long, everywhere in all of Britannia outside of the Luna bank" from what I can see on my shard. The town events, to be honest I don't know what causes them, what fixes them, or if the whole thing has just been left off the hook. It certainly feels that way. If there's anything players can be actively doing to get rid of the Falsehood people taking over Trinsic, or the Hatred people slaughtering anyone who steps foot in Moonglow, I don't know that anyone knows how, cares, or is in the position to organize it. I wish they'd just drop the town invasions altogether. It's doing nothing but finishing the job of gutting an already pretty gutted world out there.

Luna should be burned and every house within its limits.. eventually extend the "building" into a real city. I can guarantee Luna is the popular spot now only due to its close-by shops and inside-wall houses/vendors. Opening in city housing for the other cities would be a good idea too.

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...wow, so much negativity. Well, I'll be the one ray of light in this thread.

I happen to think that Luna is a great city. Yep, I said it. I used to hate there not being a moongate right next to Britain bank. And its quite nice that you can buy nearly any npc item from one and a half screens away from the bank in Luna. Its great and mighty walls (Ques up patriotic music) protects one from the ever lurking monster that may lay waste to the innocent player only wishing to shop from a vendor. And there is always a healer at his post RIGHT next to the moongate, awaiting to rez the unfortunate soul that has found his way to death. Luna = a convient nicely packaged city that is safe for the shopper. Just watch your wallet if your in Seige or Felucca And the stables is very close by as well.

I'd say my second choice is Umbra. The bank is nicely placed in the center of the city with a nearby inn, and moongate isn't 17 screens away (I think that is how many it is for Britain?) like Britain's is. And the stables just a short distance from the bank as well.

And yeah, I have been playing "since the days" that players used to sit at Britain bank. I know on Catskills (the shard I play on) everyone is found at Luna or New Haven.

Ok...I'm done ranting. Just wanted to toss in that there are players that happen to like Luna.

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Of course there are players that like Luna. Whenever you make something the laziest choice of least resistance, the big majority of players will go that route... some because it's easier and some will grit their teeth and do it because they don't have an alternative unless they want to be like me and standing alone at an abandoned bank for half an hour, never seeing another player.

It's not a question of do some people like it, do most players use it, or is it easier/lazier/more convenient. It's a question of: is it good. It's quite analagous to how, in WOW, once they introduced Shattrath, with teleportation portals right there in the middle of the darn city to all the other major world cities (whereas you have to take a mix of griffon flights and boat rides, sometimes taking up to 10 minutes or more, to get between any of the other major cities), EVERYONE MOVED THERE. Now the new players wander around (there is a level requirement to go to the region where Shattrath is) the old abandoned capital cities wondering if there are any other players in the game.

Was it a move that pleased powergaming, efficiency minded players who want the least possible time investment to the most possible result? Yes. Was it good for the game-long term? I would say no.

I'm always kinda shocked how so many mmorpg companies spend the first half of the game trying to balance out server load and DISCOURAGE all the players from converging on any one spot because of the strain it puts on the servers.... and then, as the games develop and add patch or expansion cities, it always streamlines and clusters things down so that players can get more done in less space. It seems very counterintuitive. And it certainly has detrimental effects to the "original world" in nearly all cases.

I've always enjoyed the crowd at the bank in West Britain on Great Lakes. I sometimes suspect that one reason it has continued to remain a popular gathering spot is the secret passage that takes you from the small stone building near the bank to the Brit moongate and vice versa. It's a funny little shortcut that's unique to GL and home to a couple of skeletons and a friendly fire beetle.

Im all for inner city housing. Level a couple of useless buildings in every town, put the plots as a winning prize in some contest ( design ) , and give a choice of pre determined designs to build in each city so it will be harmonious with the rest of the environnement. Limit vendor counts to 5 so it dosent looks or act like Luna.

I really dont like luna either, its fugly , laggy, and im sorry but most of the player owned buildings there set aside a couple , are an eyesore. Dont get me started on the ridiculous prices. thank god for searchuo and trade boards.

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

Luna should be burned and every house within its limits.. eventually extend the "building" into a real city. I can guarantee Luna is the popular spot now only due to its close-by shops and inside-wall houses/vendors. Opening in city housing for the other cities would be a good idea too.

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Once upon a time, a long time ago I used to hear how WBB should be burned/changed or something done due to all the bank sitters, lag, how ugly everyone looks there.

Why burn Luna? Because you are jealous? You don't like the houses?

I own a house outside Luna walls. I scrimped, saved and relocated from my little house near West Side Brit. I moved to where there are customers, shops, and the moongate. I happen to enjoy the easy shopping, banking, and safe location.
Gee, maybe that's the reason people move from the sticks and boondocks to the big city?

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Once upon a time, a long time ago I used to hear how WBB should be burned/changed or something done due to all the bank sitters, lag, how ugly everyone looks there.

Why burn Luna? Because you are jealous? You don't like the houses?

I own a house outside Luna walls. I scrimped and saved and relocated from my little house near West Side Brit to move where the customers are and for the closeness to shops. I happen to enjoy the easy shopping, banking, and safe location.
Gee, maybe that's the reason people move from the sticks and boondocks to the big city?

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I would prefer they stop the old town invasions which have accomplished a grand total of nothing other than killing every other city besides Luna, and punishing anyone who tries to use those cities.

But, failing that, if the town invasions must continue, give Luna its turn. Britain and Luna at the same time would even be nice because it might revive some of the other, older towns that had crowds before the town invasions (circa 2000-2002) drove everyone to exclusively Britain.

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I'm not against Luna/Umbra Invasions. Those cities should get their turn under the fire too.

I just don't understand the prevailing sentiment that Luna is evil. I still remember when WBB was scammer/duper central. People dropped runes, spammed/gated for auctions/shops, and did all the things they do in Luna now.

Im all for inner city housing. Level a couple of useless buildings in every town, put the plots as a winning prize in some contest ( design ) , and give a choice of pre determined designs to build in each city so it will be harmonious with the rest of the environnement. Limit vendor counts to 5 so it dosent looks or act like Luna.

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I second this motion. Let's get the different cities of Sosaria lively again! How, you ask? Let's look at what history shows us. On most, if not all, shards, the primary hub is now Luna. Why? Because of convenience. Player houses are a stone's throw from the local bank and NPC shops. Why don't we do that in all cities? Just take some of the existing buildings in each city and reduce them to fixed position plots. Players can then go to the local Real Estate Broker NPC for a listing of available plots and their costs. Players purchase the plots and then customize (hopefully not boxes) to their tastes and place vendors as they see fit.
This can be taken a few steps further! Since these houses are in guard zones, their owners are charged a certain amount a week similar to the way Animal Trainer NPCs supposedly do for stabling pets. This is a tax to pay for the city guards and services.

Like we always have? At one time Moonglow was the center of social life in Sosaria/Atlantic.

Or, if you needed repairs or wanted to sell ore or ingots you went to Delucia... that's where all the Miners and Smiths hung out.

Brit has had a short history of being the center of commerce and social gathering. That is... if you call spamming items for sale and sitting around ignoring everyone... social.

I'm glad Britain is empty. Before the creation of New Haven, "Old" Haven was a good spot where players of varied skill levels could mingle and help each other. It's right that veteran players are in the same place as new and returning players. That way knowledge can be shared and help can be given.

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I think that merely turning all cities into copies of Luna will only benefit the small number of players who squeeze in their houses before all the space is gone. In fact I'm pretty sure in many cases we'll be talking about generally the same small handful of players (possibly multiple accounts, whatever) who already hold a monopoly immediately outside of Luna.

I say place the Luna moongate 21 screens away from the bank, personally. The cities that need a much closer moongate are the ones lowbies would and should be visiting, for safety. Luna doesn't need it.

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Like we always have? At one time Moonglow was the center of social life in Sosaria/Atlantic.

Or, if you needed repairs or wanted to sell ore or ingots you went to Delucia... that's where all the Miners and Smiths hung out.

Brit has had a short history of being the center of commerce and social gathering. That is... if you call spamming items for sale and sitting around ignoring everyone... social.

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I don't disagree with this per se. I'd lo ve to see some life come back to ALL the old cities, b ut I'm not sure most shards honestly have the active playerbase to do this. At t he risk of being very unpopular I Think all the trade skill related add-ons to houses were a mistake. I think a majority of the active (logs in at least weekly) player base is just hitting Luna and then spending the rest of th e day stocking their vendors, arranging trades or macro spamming in their house.

I do disagree, however, that Luna is just Britain Part 2. Luna is just an AFK spot for very highly developed players, many of whom probably own the houses one screen away. It is not the gathering point of trade and sales and aid and organizing parties that Britain was, despite your characterization of it. There is little the new player or new character gains by going to Luna yet, if he goes anywhere else, he's the only person in town.

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